Arizona has joined the growing number of states fighting back against Big Tech tyranny, but Apple and Google have reportedly not taken this affront to their power lying down.
Arizona State Rep. Regina Cobb (R) introduced H.B. 2005, a bill aimed at fighting Big Tech dominance by allowing app developers to circumvent the massive fees that Apple and Google take from app sales.
As it stands, Apple and Google take a “15% to 30% cut” from app sales, Protocol explained.
Under the bill, a “digital application distribution platform” could not “require a developer that is domiciled in [the state of Arizona] to use a particular in-application payment system as the exclusive mode of accepting payments from a user to download a software application or purchase a digital or physical product or service through a software application.”
The bill’s provisions would also bar platforms from requiring “exclusive use of a particular in-application payment system as the exclusive mode of accepting payments from Arizona users to download a software application or purchase a digital or physical product or service through a software application.”
Unsurprisingly, Apple and Google began to push back against the bill immediately. Lobbyists for Apple and Google “started storming into the state” before the bill was “even formally introduced,” Protocol reported.
Not only have both companies begun lobbying against the legislation, they went the extra mile and “hired probably almost every lobbyist in town,” Cobb told Protocol.
A growing number of states have begun to take action against Big Tech, and their actions could inspire other states to do the same. North Dakota considered legislation similar to Arizona’s in February, but the bill ultimately failed. Still, Nebraska and Iowa have introduced legislation to hold Big Tech accountable for censorship, and Florida has been developing similar legislation. The Virginia House of Delegates and New York legislature have each introduced legislation to give consumers more agency over their personal data. Maryland, meanwhile, already passed a tax on digital ad revenue.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
